Batman & Robin - The Columbia Serials [1949]

Certificate: U

Running time: 20 mins
per episode

Director: Spencer
Bennet

Starring: Robert
Lowery, Johnny Duncan, Jane Adams, Lyle Talbot

Genre: Comic book,
Action, Adventure

Country: USA

WithThe Dark Knight Risesbut weeks
away and the promise of the ultimate test the Bat has ever faced it seems
fitting to fix our focus on the gallery of rogues, to borrow a phrase that is
some of the many incarnations of the hero thatGothamneeds.

After the relatively unsuccessful and unpopular
15 episode serial run of 1943, including one film Robert Lowery took over from
Lewis Wilson (who would go on to become a powerful executive behind the Bond franchise). Wilson
was critically panned for being a “little too thick around the middle” to be a
spritely superhero yet it was Lowery who would become the only one of the seven
live action performers to step into the shadow of the Bat not to star in a
film. The Lowery serials of 1949 would
prove not only to be a step up in quality of story telling, masterful with the
obligatory serial “cliffhanger” at the end of each episode but would prove
remarkably influential on the future of the Batman franchise. The Batmobile, little more than a civilian
car, can be seen over half a century later as influential in not only the
design of the vehicle for Batman: The
Animated Series but also the overall time period and feel of the award
winning (and acclaimed) animated addition.

Similarly Spencer Bennet’s vision of the
Batcave is one that will not change over the 15 years between these serials and
Batman: The Moviestarring Adam West
and Burt Ward. So clear is Bennet’s
design, direction and execution that with the exception of the quality of
the Batsuit (which makes Bruce look more like a horny clansman rather than a
vigilante Dark Knight) the show, at least in my mind, has aged incredibly
well. It’s also remarkably dark,
especially in comparison to the 20th Century Fox/West era. Whether it’s the idea of the cinema of trauma
or early influences of German Expressionism creeping into Bob Kane’s hero it’s
much similar in tone and mood to the work of Tim Burton though chronologically
it should be closer to Leslie Martinson.

Robert Lowery is a strong physical
presence as Batman and a sophisticated Wayne,
his affected English acting accent out of the mask is somewhat distracting but
puts forward a well rounded performance.
John Duncan (as Robin) is window dressing but he’s not the first
performer to have difficulty with the Robin character and no doubt, post Nolan and Bale, he won’t be the last. Jane
Adams’ performances as Vicki Vale are thankfully infrequent as her interactions
with Lowery are wooden and drag him down somewhat. The serials brilliance belong entirely to Director
Bennet and Cinematographer Ira Morgan who have created a complex and darkly
wonderful world for the Caped Crusader to ply his trade. Over 60 years have passed since these were
committed to film and they still look remarkable, I can only imagine what it
must have looked like to have seen them at my local cinema before the feature
presentation and just how unsatisfactory that feature must have been after
these exquisite episodes.